This invention relates to apparatus utilized for the trapping of pollen in a honeybee colony and for enhancing the pollination activities of the bees of the colony.
Beekeepers recognize that bees depend on honey for their carbohydrate food component and pollen for their protein requirements. Typically, these items are collected and later made available to the bee colony during periods of short supply. In addition, trapping of pollen has been utilized to determine the types of plants visited by the bees and to study the relative importance and yields of plant types in a given area.
Recently, the proteinaceous character of pollen has been recognized as making pollen highly beneficial to the human diet. This recognition has generated increasing interest in ways to efficiently and effectively trap and harvest pollen on a commercial basis. To this end, a variety of different pollen traps have been described in the literature and tested in the bee colonies. An improved pollen trap is described in my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 236,916 filed Feb. 23, 1981, entitled Improved Pollen Trap and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,974.
A pollen trap is a device placed in the travel path of honey bees returning to their colony after foraging. The pollen-collecting bees carry the bulk of the pollen in pouches on their legs. To effect removal of pollen from the bees, one or more mesh screens are placed in their travel path. As the bees crawl through the screen the pollen is dislodged from their legs and is collected in a container made inaccessible to the bees by a fine mesh covering.
The collection of pollen on a large scale commercial basis requires that effective pollen trapping be accomplished by a structure that is compatible with commercial equipment presently utilized and is multi-functional so that it does not require dismantling of the colony during normal operation. Thus, it is highly desirable that a trap be capable of being utilized at the bottom, top or in a mid-range position in a bee colony and to have trapping and non-trapping capabilities in each position. Further, the use of a pollen trap should minimize any disturbance of the honeybee colony or the normal flight path of the bee. In addition, it is recommended that the trap employed interfere as little as practical with the required ventilation pattern within the bee colony and particularly within the region surrounding the container of trapped pollen.
One general type of pollen trap known to the industry requires the structure to be placed outside the bee colony. An example of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,338 wherein adjacent pollen and trash containers are positioned beneath spaced vertical screens and located outside the colony. A disadvantage common to external traps is that the pollen is exposed to adverse climatic conditions, in particular to moisture which can render the accumulated pollen unusable. Also, outside traps must be removed from the area by the operator during periods in which the crops are being sprayed for pesticide or weed control.
Pollen traps which can be included within the bee colony and are thus protected from the adverse climatic conditions and various chemical substances in the area are preferred for commercial use. As a result, a number of bottom traps have been described in the literature. The typical manner of providing for the bottom trapping of pollen is to incorporate a pollen scraping screen at or proximate to the bee entrance of the colony with a trapping container incorporated in the base of the colony. In structures wherein the trapping container is positioned just below the bee entryway the pollen is likely to be rendered unsuitable for further use or sale as a result of either exposure to the environment or lack of adequate ventilation. In many bottom traps, the pollen is subject to contamination by external sources or by trash generated within the colony by the bees. Also, small animals and insects are often able to invade the trapping container of modified base structure colonies.
While the trapping of pollen for removal from the bee colony is efficiently and effectively performed in the apparatus described in my aforementioned U.S. patent application, that invention is directed to trapping and non-trapping modes of operation wherein the collection of pollen for removal is of prime concern. The pollination of agricultural crops by the bees when the prior apparatus was placed in its non-trapping mode was essentially undisturbed as intended. The present invention is directed to the enhancing of the distribution of pollen by the bees while retaining the advantages of my prior trapping apparatus. By increasing the efficiency of the pollen distributing function of the bees in the colony, crop yields are increased and the time required for pollination is decreased.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to the provision of pollen collecting apparatus that can be included in the bee colony at top, intermediate or bottom trapping positions within the colony to provide improved crop pollination. The present structure conforms to the dimensions of the conventional colony and thus can be positioned on and employed with the colony base to elevate the pollen trapping site from ground level. The trapping and distribution of pollen takes place within the structure so as to provide protection from adverse environmental conditions. In addition, the present apparatus permits the beekeeper to engage in either trapping, non-trapping or pollination operations without requiring removal of the structure from the colony.